Validation of a questionnaire on emotional eating for use in... the Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ)

43. VALIDATION:01. Interacción 12/03/12 12:46 Página 645
Nutr Hosp. 2012;27(2):645-651
ISSN 0212-1611 • CODEN NUHOEQ
S.V.R. 318
Original
Validation of a questionnaire on emotional eating for use in cases of obesity;
the Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ)
M. Garaulet1, M. Canteras1, E. Morales1, G. López-Guimera2, D. Sánchez-Carracedo2 and
M. D. Corbalán-Tutau1
Department of Physiology. Faculty of Biology. University of Murcia. Murcia. Spain. 2Dept. of Clinical and Health Psicology.
Faculty of Psicology. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Barcelona. Spain.
1
Abstract
Introduction: Emotions have a powerful effect on our
choice of food and eating habits. It has been found that in
some people there is relationship between eating,
emotions and the increased energy intake. This relationship should be measurable to better understand how food
is used to deal with certain mood states and how these
emotions affect the effectiveness of weight loss programs.
Objective: To develop and analyze the psychometric
characteristics of a questionnaire on emotional eating for
obesity easy to apply in clinical practice.
Subjects and methods: A ten-item questionnaire called
Emotional-Eater-Questionnaire (EEQ) was developed
and administered to a total of 354 subjects (body mass
index, 31 ± 5), aged 39 ± 12, who were subjected to a
weight-reduction program. The questionnaire was specifically designed for obesity. Analysis of the internal structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and
convergent validity with Mindful-Eater-Questionnaire
(MEQ) were conducted.
Results: After principal components analysis, the questionnaire was classified in three different dimensions that
explained 60% of the total variance: Disinhibition, Typeof-food and Guilt. Internal consistency showed that
Cronbach´s alpha was 0.773 for the “Dishinibition”
subscale, 0.656 for the “Type of food” subscale and 0.612
for the “Guilt” subscale. The test-retest stability was r =
0.70. The data showed that the percentage of agreement
between the EEQ and the MEQ was around 70% with a
Kappa index of 0.40; P < 0.0001.
Conclusion: We have presented a new questionnaire,
which classifies individuals as a function of the relation
between food intake and emotions. Such information will
permit personalised treatments to be designed by
drawing up early strategies from the very beginning of
treatment programmes.
(Nutr Hosp. 2012;27:645-651)
DOI:10.3305/nh.2012.27.2.5659
Key words: Emotional-Eater. Obesity. Questionnaire. Validity.
Correspondence: Marta Garaulet.
Department of Physiology. Faculty of Biology.
University of Murcia.
Campus de Espinardo, s/n.
30100. Murcia. Spain.
E-mail: garaulet@um.es
VALIDACIÓN DE UN CUESTIONARIO
DE COMEDORES EMOCIONALES PARA USO
EN CASOS DE OBESIDAD; CUESTIONARIO
DE COMEDOR EMOCIONAL (CCE)
Resumen
Introducción: Las emociones tienen un poderoso efecto
sobre la elección de alimentos y los hábitos alimentarios.
Existe una relación entre comer, emociones y el aumento
del aporte calórico. Esta relación debería ser medible
para comprender mejor cómo utilizamos los alimentos en
determinados estados de ánimo y cómo las emociones
afectan a la eficacia de los programas de pérdida de peso.
Objetivo: Desarrollar y analizar las características psicométricas de un cuestionario para identificar la ingesta
emocional en la obesidad de fácil aplicación en la práctica
clínica.
Material y métodos: Se ha desarrollado y administrado
un cuestionario de diez ítems llamado Cuestionario-deComedor-Emocional (CCE) a un total de 354 sujetos
(Índice de Masa Corporal: 31 ± 5), (Edad: 39 ± 12 años),
pertenecientes a un programa de reducción de peso. Se
llevó a cabo un análisis de la estructura interna del cuestionario, de la consistencia interna, la fiabilidad testretest y la validez convergente con el Mindful-EaterQuestionnaire (MEQ).
Resultados: El análisis de componentes principales del
cuestionario encontró tres dimensiones diferentes que
explicaban el 60% de la varianza: desinhibición, tipo de
alimento y culpa. La consistencia interna mostró que el
alfa de Cronbach fue de 0,773 para la subescala “Desinhibición”, 0,656 para “Tipo de alimentos” y 0,612 para
“culpa”. La estabilidad test-retest fue de r = 0,70. Los
datos mostraron que el porcentaje de acuerdo entre el
CCE y MEQ era del 70% con un índice Kappa de 0,40,
P < 0,0001.
Conclusión: Hemos presentado un nuevo cuestionario,
que clasifica a los individuos en función de la relación
entre la ingesta de alimentos y las emociones. Esta información permitirá el diseño de tratamientos personalizados desde el inicio para la obesidad.
(Nutr Hosp. 2012;27:645-651)
DOI:10.3305/nh.2012.27.2.5659
Palabras clave: Comedor emocional. Obesidad. Cuestionario. Validación.
Recibido: 10-XII-2011.
Aceptado: 15-XII-2011.
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Introduction
Table I
Characteristics of the population studied
Obesity is a heterogeneous syndrome with an
increasing prevalence in many countries.1-2 It is considered the result of a variety of interactions between
genetic, social, economic, endocrine, metabolic and
psychopathogical factors.3 Association between obesity
and psychopathology is a controversial issue. However,
there is substantial evidence that obesity increase the risk
of depression,4 and moderate evidence about positive
association between obesity and anxiety disorders.5
Emotional eating has been defined as “eating as a
response to a range of negative emotions, such as anxiety,
depression, anger and loneliness”.6 It is well known that
our emotions have a powerful effect on our choice of food
and eating habits,6-12 as we seek emotional well being.13
Until now, seeking relief in food has been considered a
strategy to alleviate anxiety, sadness and other negative
emotions, in many cases as a result of following a long
term diet or other problems that occur in our daily lives.14-16
Several studies support the idea that there is relationship between eating, emotions and the increased
energy intake.17-18 This relationship should be measurable to better understand how food is used to deal with
certain mood states and how these emotions affect the
effectiveness of weight loss programs.
The exact process by which emotions affect eating
behavior emerges as one of the central unanswered
questions in the field of emotional eating.19 It has been
found empirical support that the influence of emotions
on eating behavior is stronger in obese people than in
non-obese and in dieters than in non-dieters.20 It also
has been suggested that emotion itself may not be
responsible for overating but rather the way in which
the emotion is dealt with.21
One of the most commonly used psychological tools
for studying eating behaviour is the Three Factor Eating
Questionnaire22 (TFEQ), which explores three dimensions of eating behaviour: restraint (cognitive restraint of
eating), disinhibition and hunger. However, this questionnaire is very long (51 items) and its usefulness for obese
women is unclear since the correlation between the
subscales of restraint and disinhibition and the values of
weight and basal Body Mass Index (BMI) is weak.23 In
contrast, the Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ),24
which describes a non-judgemental awareness of physical
and emotional sensations associated with eating, has been
proposed as a helpful weight loss tool. Moreover, the
mean MEQ summary score has previously been associated with obesity. Other questionnaires, such as The
Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress
(EADES) Questionnaire, the Dutch Eating Behaviour
Questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Emotional Eating Scale
(EES) are also useful to assess emotions and other nontraditional factors that contribute to overweight and
obesity.25-27 However, some of these questionnaires are
designed to assess eating disorders, are not specific for
obesity, or are too long or complicated to be applied in the
clinical practice of obesity by the nutritionist.
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Nutr Hosp. 2012;27(2):645-651
Anthropometric
characteristics
Total sample
n = 354
Age
Weight (kg)
BMI (kg/m2)
Fat percentage (%)
Hip (cm)
Waist (cm)
Waist/Hip ratio
39 ± 12
83.7 ± 16.3
31.6 ± 5.4
37.8 ± 6.2
113.6 ± 10.1
102.1 ± 13.8
0.89 ± 0.08
Data are presented as mean ± SD.
BMI: Body Mass Index.
For these reasons the aim of this study was to
develop and evaluate, in a Mediterranean Population of
South-east Spain, a questionnaire on emotional eating
in obesity easy to be applied in the nutritional practice.
Methods
Participants
The anthropometric characteristics of the study
population are shown in table I.
The initial sample was composed of 354 overweight or
obese subjects (84% women) aged 39 ± 12 years; BMI
31,6 ± 5,4 kg/m2. All the subjects were voluntarily
attending a nutrition clinic in south-eastern Spain for
dietetic and behavioural treatment to lose weight based
on the principle of the Mediterranean diet and behavioural and cognitive techniques (Método Garaulet©) as
described previously.28 Exclusion criteria were: Aged
under 14 or above 75 years and BMI ≤ 25 kg/m2. Also
excluded were patients diagnosed as bulimic, prone to
binge eating or undergoing treatment with anxiolytic or
antidepressive drugs. A test-retest study was conducted
in 122 participants. These participants completed the
Emotional Eater Questionaire (EEQ) twice, with a an
average interval period of 3.5 (SD:1.1) months. The same
number of subjects completed the MEQ questionnaire.
Procedures
Administration of the questionnaires took place during
the period from January 2011 to May 2011. Each questionnaire was completed anonymously during group
therapy in weight loss treatment, under the supervision of
a nutritionist. The questions were carefully explained by
the nutritionist to ensure complete understanding and to
avoid any questions remaining unanswered.
The written informed consent was obtained before
subjects were accepted and was performed in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of Human Studies
and approved by the Ethical Committee of the University of Murcia.
M. Garaulet et al.
43. VALIDATION:01. Interacción 22/02/12 12:00 Página 647
Table IIa
Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ) Garaulet
n
Never
1. Do the weight scales have a great power over you? Can they change your mood?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
2. Do you crave specific foods?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Never
n
Always
n
Always
n
Never
3. Is it difficult for you to stop eating sweet things, especially chocolate?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Always
n
Never
4. Do you have problems controlling the amount of certain types of food you eat?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Always
n
Never
5. Do you eat when you are stressed, angry or bored?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Always
n
Never
6. Do you eat more of your favourite food and with less control when you are alone?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Always
n
Never
7. Do you feel guilty when eat “forbidden” foods, like sweets or snacks?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Always
n
Never
8. Do you feel less control over your diet when you are tired after work at night?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Always
9. When you overeat while on a diet, do you give up and start eating without control, particularly food that you think is fattening?
n
n
n
n
Never
Sometimes
Generally
Always
n
Never
10. How often do you feel that food controls you, rather than you controlling food?
n
n
Sometimes
Generally
n
Always
Scores: Value “0” = Never; Value “1” = Sometimes; Value “2” = Generally; Value “3” = Always.
For the clinical Practice:
Score between 0-5: You are a non-emotional eater. Your emotions have little or nothing to do in your eating behavior. You are a person with great
stability with respect to your feeding behaviour. You eat when you feel hungry, regardless of external factors or emotions.
Score between 6-10: You are a low emotional eater. It is rare that you solve your problems with food. However, you feel that certain foods affect
your will.
Score between 11-20: You are an emotional eater. Your responses indicate that to some extent your emotions influence your diet. Feelings and
mood in some moments of your life determine how much and how you eat.
Score between 21-30: You are a very emotional eater. If you’re not careful, food will control your life. Your feelings and emotions constantly
rotate around your food.
Instruments
A ten-item questionnaire was developed to assess to
what extent emotions affect eating behaviour. This questionnaire was called the Emotional Eater Questionnaire
(EEQ). All the questions had four possible replies: 1)
Never, 2) Sometimes; 3) Generally and 4) Always. Each
reply was given a score of 1 to 4, the lower the score, the
healthier the behaviour. For the clinical practice subjects
Validation of a questionnaire
on emotional eating
were classified in four groups attending to the score
obtained. Score between 0-5: non-emotional eater. Score
between 6-10: low emotional eater. Score between 11-20:
emotional eater. Score between 21-30: very emotional
eater. See table IIa in English and table IIb in Spanish.
The Mindful Eating Questionnarie (MEQ) (24)
describes a nonjudgmental awareness of physical and
emotional sensations associated with eating. It was
validated with adults (range 18 to 80 years), mostly
Nutr Hosp. 2012;27(2):645-651
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Table IIb
Cuestionario de Comedor Emocional Garaulet (CCE)
n
Nunca
1. ¿La báscula tiene un gran poder sobre ti? ¿Es capaz de cambiar tu estado de humor?
n
n
A veces
Generalmente
n
Siempre
n
Nunca
2. ¿Tienes antojos por ciertos alimentos específicos?
n
n
A veces
Generalmente
n
Siempre
n
Nunca
3. ¿Te cuesta parar de comer alimentos dulces, especialmente chocolate?
n
n
A veces
Generalmente
n
Siempre
n
Nunca
4. ¿Tienes problemas para controlar las cantidades de ciertos alimentos?
n
n
A veces
Generalmente
n
Siempre
n
Nunca
5. ¿Comes cuando estás estresado, enfadado o aburrido?
n
n
A veces
Generalmente
n
Siempre
n
Nunca
6. ¿Comes más de tus alimentos favoritos, y con más descontrol, cuando estás solo?
n
n
A veces
Generalmente
n
Siempre
7. ¿Te sientes culpable cuando tomas alimentos “prohibidos”, es decir, aquellos que crees que no deberías, como los dulces o snacks?
n
n
n
n
Nunca
A veces
Generalmente
Siempre
8. Por la noche, cuando llegas cansado de trabajar ¿es cuando más descontrol sientes en tu alimentación?
n
n
n
n
Nunca
A veces
Generalmente
Siempre
9. Estás a dieta, y por alguna razón comes más de la cuenta, entonces piensas que no vale la pena y ¿comes de forma
descontrolada aquellos alimentos que piensas que más te van a engordar?
n
n
n
n
Nunca
A veces
Generalmente
Siempre
n
Nunca
10. ¿Cuántas veces sientes que la comida te controla a ti en vez de tú a ella?
n
n
A veces
Generalmente
n
Siempre
Valores: Valor “0” = Nunca; Valor “1” = A veces; Valor “2” = Generalmente; Valor “3” = Siempre.
Para la práctica clínica:
Puntuación entre 0-5: Eres un Comedor No Emocional. Tus emociones influyen poco o nada en tu comportamiento alimentario. Ya puedes decir
que eres una persona con gran estabilidad en lo que se refiere al comportamiento alimentario, y que seguramente comes cuando fisiológicamente
sientes apetito, sin tener en cuenta los factores externos ni tus emociones.
Puntuación entre 6-10: Eres un Comedor Poco Emocional. Sigues siendo una persona poco emotiva respecto a tu alimentación. Es raro que soluciones tus problemas o tus nervios con la comida. Sin embargo, ya sientes que ciertos alimentos influyen sobre tu voluntad y que la comida, es algo
más que comida.
Puntuación entre 11-20: Eres un Comedor Emocional. Tus respuestas indican que en cierta medida tus emociones influyen en tu alimentaci6n.
Los sentimientos y el estado de ánimo en algunos momentos de tu vida determinan cuánto y cómo comes. Aún así, aunque eres un comedor emocional, todavía la comida no controla tus acciones sino que sigues siendo tú quien domina tu alimentación.
Puntuación entre 21-30: Está claro que eres un Comedor Muy Emocional. Si no te cuidas, la comida llegará a controlar tu vida. Tus sentimientos y
emociones girarán constantemente alrededor de tu alimentación y, si no pones los medios, puedes llegar a sufrir algún tipo de desorden en el comportamiento alimentario que te puede llevar a enfermedades como la anorexia y la bulimia.
women (81%), some of them enrolled in different
weight loss programs. It has 28 items scored one to
four, where four indicated higher mindfulness.
Exploratory factor analysis found a solution of
following factors: disinhibition (8 items; ex., “When I
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Nutr Hosp. 2012;27(2):645-651
eat at “all you can eat” buffets, I tend to overeat”),
awareness (7 items; ex., “I notice when there are subtle
flavors in the foods I eat”), external cues (6 items; ex.,
“I recognize when food advertisements make me want
to eat”), emotional response (4 items; ex., “When I’m
M. Garaulet et al.
43. VALIDATION:01. Interacción 22/02/12 12:01 Página 649
EMOTIONAL EATER QUESTIONNAIRE (EEQ)
TOTAL SAMPLE
INITIAL SAMPLE
n = 354
– Internal structure (Principal Component Analysis)
– Internal Consistency (Cronbach’s alpha)
SUBSAMPLE
n = 122
– Temporal stability (Test-retest reliability of the EEQ)
– Convergent Validity (Mindful Eating Questionnaire)
(MEQ)
Fig. 1.—The different steps followed for validation of the EEQ.
method (varimax) was used. The number of factors to be
extracted from the rotated pattern matrix was determined
by factor eigenvalues above 1.0.29,30 Items were to be used
if their primary factor loading was at least (0.40).29,30
Internal consistency of the questionnaire was
assessed by means of Cronbach’s alpha reliability
index. Second, temporal stability and convergent
validity were analized in a subsample. To determine
temporal stability, test-retest reliability was estimated
by means of Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Convergent validity between the EEQ and the previously validated MEQ was assessed by means of Kappa’s Index
concordance. We considered as satisfactory reliability
indicators Cronbach’s alpha and test-retest correlations
higher than 0.7.31 All the analyses were carried out with
SPSS for Windows (version 15.0).
Result
Validity and reliability of EEQ
sad I eat to feel better”), and distraction (3 items; ex.,
“My thoughts tend to wander while I am eating”). The
internal consistency (Cronbach’s alfa) were 0.83, 0.74,
0.70, 0.71 and 0.64 respectively. The total mean MEQ
score was 2.92 ± 0.37, with Chronbach’s alfa of 0.64.
Statistical analysis
Figure 1 represents the different steps followed for the
validation. The psychometric assessment was conducted
in two distinct phases. First, we studied the internal structure of the scale. The replies to the questionnaires were
analysed by principal components analysis to determine
whether the different variables could be grouped in a
lower number of factors. A rotation of maximum variance
Internal structure of the EEQ
Table III shows the results of the principal components analysis after giving the questionnaire to the
patients of the total sample (n = 354).
Varimax rotation identified three factors that
explained 60% of the total variance. The first (which
explained 25% of the variance) included questions
related with disinhibition, like “Do you feel less control
over your diet when you are tired after work at night?
or “Do you eat more of your favourite food and with
less control when you are alone?”. The second factor
(explaining 18.5% of the variance) included questions
related with the type of food for which patients find it
most difficult to exercise control; for example, “Do
Table III
Factorial analysis of the Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ)
Loading of the variables by factor
F1
Do you feel less control over your diet when you are tired after work at night?
Do you eat more of your favourite food and with less control when you are alone??
Do you eat when you are stressed, angry or bored?
When you overeat while on a diet, do you give up and start eating without control,
particularly food that you think is fattening?
How often do you feel that food controls you, rather than you controlling food?
Do you have problems controlling the amount of certain types of food you eat?
Is it difficult for you to stop eating sweet things, especially chocolate?
Do you crave specific foods?
Do the weight scales have a great power over you? Can they change your mood?
Do you feel guilty when eat “forbidden” foods, like sweets or snacks?
0.759
0.664
0.649
% Total variance
25.6
F2
F3
0.610
0.559
0.554
0.827
0.815
0.846
0.774
18.5
16.3
Three factors explained 60.4 % of the total variance. Factors with a % of total variability < 5% are not shown. Factors loading less than 0.25
were not recorded.
Validation of a questionnaire
on emotional eating
Nutr Hosp. 2012;27(2):645-651
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you crave specific foods?”. Finally, the factor that least
explained the variance (16%) included questions
related with patients’ emotions and their relation with
the weighing scales and the sense of guilt that eating
“forbidden” foods (e.g. sweets or snacks) produces.
Cronbach’s alpha was 0.773 for the “Dishinibition”
subscale, 0.656 for the “Type of food” subscale and
0.612 for the “Guilt” subscale.
Test-retest reliability and convergent validity
Lineal correlations demonstrated good agreement
between the first and second administrations of the
EEQ (test-retest reliability) (r = 0.702; P < 0.0001).
For testing convergent validity the EEQ was
compared with MEQ. Data showed that the percentage
of agreement between the EEQ and the MEQ was
around 70% with a Kappa index of 0.40; p < 0.0001.
Discussion
The present work develops a compact questionnaire that
is easy to administer in clinical practice. It is valid and reliable in evaluating the degree of emotion in relation with
food intake in subjects considered overweight or obese.
An often forgotten aspect in treating obesity and one
that is often overlooked by nutritionists is the
emotional state of patients and the consequences of
different behavioural patterns on weight loss and the
effectiveness of treatment. From the results of this
study and based on the grouping of the questions after
principal components analysis, three important aspects
can be identified for treating patients. The first factor,
or F1, “Disinhibition” groups the questions that refer to
discontrol in terms of eating. The second factor (F2)
includes questions related with the “type of food” that
patients eat most frequently in given situations. Lastly,
the third factor (F3) refers to the “sense of guilt” felt by
individuals when they look at the weighing scales or
the consumption of forbidden foods.
“Disinhibition” (F1) corresponds to a tendency to lose
control over one’s eating behaviour and ingest excessively large quantities of food substances in response to a
variety of cues and circumstances.32 It has already been
described how the inability to control food-related
impulses and cravings is determined by the individual
character of each person.33 In this respect, application of
the present questionnaire should help detect those patients
who have the greatest need to develop self-control in the
face of impulses since these are precisely the patients who
will have greatest difficulty in achieving weight loss. The
questionnaire should also help in the early detection of
eating disorders since “fearing loss of control over eating”
is one of the feelings that help to discriminate between
eating disorder and healthy groups of women.34
The construct of disinhibition, was recently found to
have two factors: internal disinhibition (eating in
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Nutr Hosp. 2012;27(2):645-651
response to cognitive and emotional cues) and external
disinhibition (eating in response to environmental
cues).35 In the current questionnaire, the first subscale
basically refers to “internal dishinibition” since it
considers emotional cues. Indeed, questions are related
to dishinibition when “tired”, “alone”, “stressed, angry
or bored” Previously, it has been demonstrated that
early changes in internal disinhibition that occurred
during a weight loss program predicted later weight
loss success. This first subscale also shows the highest
degree of reliability or Internal consistency
The second factor (F2) in our questionnaire explained
18.5% of the variance (table II) and contained questions
like Is it difficult for you to stop eating sweet things, especially chocolate? And “Do you crave specific foods? and
mentions the “types of food” ingested in the above
mentioned situations. Foods with a high calorie content,
such as ice cream, biscuits and chocolate are closely
related with decontrol36 and are used to combat negative
emotions37,38 since their consumption is associated with
the production of endogenous opiates and serotonin,39
both directly involved with the emotions.37,40
Guilt and fear of the scales are variables in the third
factor (F3) of the analysis, or third subscale. It has been
described how food is converted into a conflict between
guilt and pleasure in more emotional individuals.41 Our
findings show this to be the least important factor since it
only explains 16% of the variance. Moreover, this dimension presents a reliability index (Cronbach’s alpha) of
0.62, being only represented by two items. Even so, the
dimension could be useful in clinical practice since it is
related to the early prediction of binge eating disorders.42
When the EEQ was compared with the previously
validated Mindful Eater Questionnaire (MEQ), there was
a high degree of agreement. For both questionnaires the
subscales with the greatest weight in the principal
components analysis was “Disinhibition”, although in
the MEQ, this subscale mainly refers to “external disinhibition”, which in general is more weakly related with
weight loss. In the EEQ, on the other hand, the relevant
questions refer to emotional or cognitive situations
(internal disinhibition). The main purpose of the EEQ is
detect a propensity to obesity and to predict weight loss
success in further studies and it was previously demonstrated that of the 5 subscales of the MEQ the largest
difference between BMI categories was for the emotional
response.24 Another important difference between the
EEQ and MEQ is that the latter considers critically
important the study of environmental cues, which makes
the questionnaire very specific and poorly applicable to
people living in the Mediterranean region with its
different environment from the North American environment. Lastly, the MEQ includes an important subscale
“awareness” which confers further complexity to the
questionnaire since our patients found these questions the
most difficult to answer (data not shown).
The strengths of the present study are the following:
1) It was specifically designed for obesity; 2) Validation of the questionnaire was performed through prin-
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43. VALIDATION:01. Interacción 22/02/12 12:01 Página 651
cipal component analysis, internal consistency, testretest reliability and convergent validity with MEQ.
One limitation is that, although the overall reliability
of the questionnaire is high, the “Guilt and fear of the
scales” subscale presented a relatively low reliability
index of around 0.60. Subsequent refinement of the test
could include new questions to increase the reliability
of these dimensions.
In summary, we have presented a new questionnaire
which classifies obese individuals as a function of the
relation between food intake and emotions in the clinical
practice. Such information will permit personalised treatments to be designed by drawing up early strategies from
the very beginning of treatment programmes.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the The Spanish
Government of Science and Innovation (project
BFU2011-24720).
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